Justfindit.se Magazine

Vallåsen for Swedes in the south

Vallåsen for Swedes in the south. A place that fits both alpine and cross-country skiing. How is it to ski on produced snow compared to ski on natural snow?

When skiing feels too far away there are sometimes good alternative solutions. At least in Sweden we have opportunity to choose. What if you live in the southern part of the country? Let say Malmö city. What do we have as alternative ski areas? In this case we mean the alpine skiing.

Just on the other side of the sea we have Copenhagen in Denmark. In October 2019 CopenHill was opened. It is Copenhagen's epicenter for urban mountain sports. There we have one possible place for alpine skiing.

And what about our side, do we have any area for alpine skiing close to Malmö in Sweden? As an author and owner of this magazine, I have decided to write a reportage about this.

About Vallåsen

Yes we do! Only 130 km north from this city there is Vallåsen. It is a place that fits both alpine and cross-country skiing and a place where you can experience both summer and winter. It is place with nice nature and nice opportunities to enjoy barbecue both in summer and winter.

What do we know about Vallåsen? It was founded 1989. Its capacity nowadays is 7200 persons per hour. It has a 4 seats chairlift and it is programmed to work so that it almost never gets crowded on the pistes. It has red, green and blue pistes so the place fits every skier regardless if we talk about children, beginners or experts.

Snow production

If there is no snow in winter time Vallåsen can make skiing possible. With its own snow production this place can offer up to 100 days of ski season. Normally the season can start in the middle of December and end in the middle of March. According to the information on the website www.vallasen.se we can see that the 2010-2011 season was most successful one with 100 ski days and 1995-1996 had 99 ski days. All other years had shorter seasons.

Why is a season shorter than other? Well, the weather is very important. If it is cold winter time with minus degrees then the snow production can be much easier and more durable. Normally, Vallåsen can produce very much snow and make skiing possible even if it is plus degrees whole winter but it is of course much easier and better if it is cold outside. The snow production is so effective that it is possible to create 400 cubic meters of snow every day. It is so much as 40 big trucks full of snow.

How is it to ski on produced snow compared to ski on natural snow? There is a difference. The produced snow can be experienced harder and more icy than natural snow but it can be softer after it has melted a bit.

The experience

The first experience of the produced snow and pistes in Vallåsen was good. Unfortunatelly not all pistes were prepared. For example the one called Malmö (Malmoe). The one called Köpenhamn (Copenhagen) and the small ones were prepared and open this time.

Well… what can we write as some last words? Yes, the experience was satisfying and hopefully the future skiing at Vallåsen will offer better or at least same kind of satisfaction. The Covid-19 pandemic has limited the number of visitors and it might be good because of smaller crowdedness.

However, if we by any reasons do not have opportunity to enjoy real winter and alpine skiing then we can say that Vallåsen can satisfy our desire. It is after all the closest place for alpine skiing in the southern parts of Sweden and also in Denmark.